GPS System close to breakdown, could begin to fail in 2010

[HytrewQasdfg]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...e-to-breakdown

(highly edited version, just the main points)

...experts have warned that the system may be close to breakdown. US government officials are concerned that the quality of the Global Positioning System (GPS) could begin to deteriorate as early as next year, resulting in regular blackouts and failures – or even dishing out inaccurate directions to millions of people worldwide. The satellites are overseen by the US Air Force, which has maintained the GPS network since the early 1990s. According to a study by the US government accountability office (GAO), mismanagement and a lack of investment means that some of the crucial GPS satellites could begin to fail as early as next year. The report says that Air Force officials have failed to execute the necessary steps to keep the system running smoothly. The first replacement GPS satellite was due to launch at the beginning of 2007, but has been delayed several times and is now scheduled to go into orbit in November this year – almost three years late. Some suggest that it could also have an impact on the proliferation of so-called location applications on mobile handsets – just as applications on the iPhone and other GPS-enabled smartphones are starting to get more popular. Women, minorites, and golfers would be hit hardest.

[mdvaldosta]

What do women and minorities have to do with GPS? I don't get it...

[Bauer]

Women and minorities? Huh?

[Surefire]

I assume its a joke.
Suggesting these people get lost more\can't map read etc...

[HytrewQasdfg]

What do women and minorities have to do with GPS? I don't get it...

It's a play on an old joke. NY Times headline: "World Ending Tomorrow, Women and Minorities Hit Hardest"

[Bauer]

Well that's neat; how else can we waste time?

[jrm1493]

This article is complete trash. I'm an engineer who has worked in GPS-aided inertial navigation my whole career in both DOD and NASA spaceflight applications and this is the first I've ever heard of anything like this; new satellites are launched all the time and the system is very well monitored and updated. All branches of the federal government are very dependent on the GPS system, everything from the military to national weather service to NASA and the USGS. In fact the GPS system typically exceeds the "spec" values of accuracy and availability by an order of magnitude or more. This is the kind of bogus journalism that just irritates the crap out of me.

[Kcas77]

It's a sterotype that women and minorites cant drive.

[buttuh]

I work in the space/satellite industry also and I've never heard of this. I wonder who these experts are.

[Mr3Putt]

This article is complete trash. I'm an engineer who has worked in GPS-aided inertial navigation my whole career in both DOD and NASA spaceflight applications and this is the first I've ever heard of anything like this; new satellites are launched all the time and the system is very well monitored and updated.

Do you think it's complete trash because it's the first you've heard of it? Or do you think it's complete trash because you don't trust the source? Would you consider the the U.S.Government Accountability Office a trash source too? http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-670T Or maybe all 628 news hits on Google also have it wrong? Although I agree with you that the GPS network won't be allowed to fail, and news organizations do tend to cry wolf, I don't know that I would classify the maintenance of any Government run entity as "very well". They tend to use the "put out whatever fire is hottest" support system. My point is don't shoot the messenger.

[kregan]

That would not surprise me at all.

Or maybe all 628 news hits on Google also have it wrong?

[Dartguy]

I may not be an engineer for NASA, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night, and I say if the satellites and GPS system fail, WALK IT OFF!!! If you can find your way to the course!